Let’s start with a somewhat disturbing punishment: The parents of murderous school shooter Ethan Crumbley have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, first the mother in February, now the father. The case was prosecuted by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. They were convicted of four counts each with penalties up to 15 years in prison, with sentences to run concurrently. Their son was convicted earlier as an adult and sentenced to life in prison.
Granted, mass shootings are terrible, tragic, and preventable. But I have questions:
1) If you decide that a teen is adult enough to face adult levels of punishment for his crimes — in this case, life in prison without possibility of parole — isn’t it also obvious that he must be adult enough to decide to commit those crimes without guidance by his parents? Or to turn it around, if you think these parents should have been closely watching and guiding this child, why are you trying him as an adult?
2) Granted, his parents made mistakes. Most notably, his father buying him a gun! They knew school officials were concerned, but wouldn’t any parents be in denial about their child being a mass murderer in the making? But the school also made significant mistakes. Yet the parents are charged with manslaughter and no one at the school was charged with any crime, and the prosecutor has said they will not be charged.
3) The articles point out that this case sets a precedent and more parents are likely to be charged for their children’s crimes in the future. How much would you like to bet that any such prosecutions will be highly subjective, focusing on the poor, women and/or minorities?
More about the case:
The involuntary manslaughter charge hinges on the prosecution convincing a jury that each parent played a role in the deaths and that they were the result of unlawful negligence, although neither parent intended for people to die.
-snip-
The following day [a few days after he received the gun and one day after he’d been caught trying to buy ammunition], a teacher said she found a note on his desk with a drawing of a gun and a person who was shot, and messages including, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.” Ethan Crumbley was sent to meet with a school counselor, and he explained the drawing was done as part of a video game design, school officials said. But his parents were called to a meeting that same day; counselors observing him would later say they didn’t believe he was going to engage in any violence based on his demeanor.
-snip-
“I think evidence is going to boil down to when the parents and the school administrators are in the same room, and Ethan has yet to act,” Kelly [a lawyer who has represented disciplined students] said. “The big question is whose duty and whose job was it to do something?”
It seems to me that the professionals should be responsible more than the parents. Also, at most there should have been one charge of negligently allowing a child access to a gun. Four manslaughter charges apiece is vastly overcharging IMO. If they hadn’t noticed him making a bomb in the garage and he’d blown up 100 people, would they have faced 100 manslaughter charges apiece? It should be one charge at most, probably of the father who gave him the gun rather than the mother who went along with it. OTOH, that was not against the law at the time that the shooting took place.
And we always say their names: The victims were Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17. The loss of life is very sad.
Somewhat Questionable Awards
Controversy over the Ruth Bader Ginsburg awards: Turns out that it can be difficult to guard one’s legacy after death: Late Supreme Court justice’s family, friends slam 2024 RBG Award honoree choices:
Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s family and friends aren’t pleased with the nominees for this year’s RBG Award honorees, which include Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk and Martha Stewart.
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“Her [RBG’s] legacy is one of deep commitment to justice and to the proposition that all persons deserve what she called ‘equal citizenship stature’ under the Constitution,” the family’s statement said. “She was a singularly powerful voice for the equality and empowerment of women, including their ability to control their own bodies.”
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“Going forward, to embrace the fullness of Justice Ginsburg’s legacy, we honor both women and men who have changed the world by doing what they do best,” Opperman [Foundation chair Julie Opperman] said.
I guess when you say “reward those who have changed the world,” you have to specify “changed the world FOR THE BETTER”!
What is wrong with these pictures?
The British Wildlife Photography Awards honours seven men and one woman: The pictures are gorgeous so worth clicking on the link to take a look. But srsly? Of 14000 entries, only one woman worth a prize in the adult categories??
An incredible image of a football covered in goose barnacles is the winner of this year's British Wildlife Photography Awards.
The picture was chosen from more than 14,000 entries by both amateur and professional photographers.
The photograph, which also won the Coast and Marine category, was taken by Ryan Stalker.
There were multiple categories, as below:
- Mark Williams won the Animal Portraits category.
- Jason McCombe won the Botanical Britain category.
- Ross Hoddinott won the Hidden Britain category.
- Graham Niven won the Wild Woods category.
- Robin Dodd won the Black and White category. As far as I can tell, although there are several people with the same name, this is the sole female winner.
- Ian Mason won the Animal Behaviour category.
- Simon Withyman won the Urban Wildlife category.
Whilst I don’t believe in quotas, surely the results could have been more representational! Do better, Britain.
In better news,
Eva Longoria Receives $50M Courage & Civility Award from Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez to Spend on Philanthropy, alongside fellow recipient Admiral Bill McRaven: [In case you don’t follow celebs any more than I do, Lauren Sánchez is Jeff Bezos’ current fiancee.]
The honorees will receive $50 million each “as part of the honor” and can direct the funds “to the charities of their choice.”
-snip-
Speaking with Elle, Longoria said she intends to “continue doing what I’ve been doing” with the Eva Longoria Foundation, which aims to “help Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship.”
“I like to focus on women, because women truly are the changemakers in families,” Longoria explained. “When you help a woman, she helps her family. And then when you help families, you improve communities. And when you improve communities, you can improve nations.”
The admiral was awarded for his work on behalf of veterans, and will donate his award to related causes for veterans and their children.
In Other News
Violence
Police hurt thousands of teens every year. A startling number are Black girls.
From CouncilOnForeignRelations:
Turkish Women March for Rights Despite Protest Ban In defiance of government prohibition, thousands of women took to the streets of Istanbul March 8 despite police again deployed --allegedly to protect national security-- to block access to the Istiklal pedestrian avenue where Women’s Day marches have been held since 2003. Marchers were met with tear gas as they demonstrated for equal rights, and protested the government’s response to the February 2023 earthquake, its 2021 exit from the International Women's Rights Convention (the "Istanbul Convention"), the rising number of femicide victims, the poor human rights record. One protester said, “We are not harming anyone, yet we are faced with police violence every time,” she said. “Our only concern is the emancipation of women; we want free spaces in a world without violence and better economic conditions, especially for women.”
Also from CouncilOnForeignRelations: United Nations Children’s Fund Releases Grim Statistics on Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation UNICEF has released figures showing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) campaign to eradicate FGM by 2030 would need to be almost 30 times faster to hit that target. Despite progress in many African countries, there are more than 230 million survivors of FGM (not counting deaths) in over 30 countries, a 15 percent increase since 2016. “Female genital mutilation harms girls’ bodies, dims their futures, and endangers their lives,” said executive director Catherine Russell. “We’re also seeing a worrying trend that more girls are subjected to the practice at younger ages, many before their fifth birthday. That further reduces the window to intervene...”
From indianz.com - March 13, 2024 Native America Calling: Confronting forced sterilization of Indigenous women on spotify March 15. A bill just introduced in Canada would outlaw what most of the developed world has considered a human rights violation for decades. The law would prohibit sterilizing women without their consent. Indigenous women have testified to lawmakers of being sterilized without any prior discussion, and of doctors doing the same to their mothers' and grandmothers' generations. The discussion comes as women from the U.S., Canada, and around the world confront past abuses of medical professionals who said they were working in the best interests of Indigenous woman.
‘Pimps’ use Instagram to glorify sexual violence and abuse, investigation finds
Exclusive: Meta to block search access to 350,000 posts using hashtags associated with Guardian’s findings.
https://www.theguardian.com/…
AssocPress*A UN envoy [Pramila Patten] says there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Hamas committed sexual violence on Oct. 7 [including rape, gang rap, sexualized torture, murder, and] "other cruel and inhumane treatment of women" during the Oct. 7 invasion, and that the UN team "“found clear and convincing information” that some women and children [taken hostage] were subjected to the same conflict-related sexual violence including rape and “sexualized torture” during captivity.
Ireland
From TheGuardian Republic of Ireland Rejects Changes to Antiquated Gender and Family Issues in Constitution Two referendums aimed at addressing gender issues in Ireland’s Constitution were rejected this week. First, the government wished to expand the definition of family to add “durable relationships” to the existing language that it be “founded on marriage.” The second change sought to replace article 41.2, which says that the state will “endeavor to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labor to the neglect of their duties in the home.” Eye roll.
Reproductive Rights
Reuters Missouri's Republican attorney general [last week] sued a Planned Parenthood affiliate, accusing it of helping minors travel to Kansas to get abortions without notifying their parents in violation of state law.
Reuters Greenland women take Denmark to court over 1960s-70s involuntary birth control campaign
...records showed that, between 1966 and 1970, 4,500 intrauterine devices were fitted into women and girls as young as 13, without their knowledge or consent.…
KFF Health News California Laws expand abortion access State law passed last year and taking effect Jan. 1, allows physician assistants AKA physician associates trained in the procedure to do first-trimester abortions without a supervising physician present. And it lets PAs previously disciplined or convicted solely for doing abortion in any of the 31 states where it's restricted to apply for California licensure. This puts PAs on par with nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives trained in abortion care, and especially expands access for pregnant people in rural areas -- over 40% of counties in California lack clinics that provide abortion.
...California has passed a suite of reproductive health laws to build in protections and increase access, and a dozen other states, including Oregon, Minnesota, and New York, have mounted similar efforts. Seventeen states, including California, now allow PAs to perform first-trimester abortions, according to the American Academy of Physician Associates.
There was little opposition to the new California law, with two physicians’ groups supporting it. But the American Medical Association, the country’s most powerful doctors’ lobby, has fought vigorously against what it calls “scope creep” — that is, changes that allow clinicians like PAs to do medical procedures independent of physicians.…
Jessica Valenti: Abortion bans are killing women.
Uncategorizable
The19thNews Sandra Day O’Connor is too ‘undistinguished’ to warrant a statue, Arizona Republicans say
The19thNews Sandra Day O’Connor is too ‘undistinguished’ to warrant a statue, Arizona Republicans say:
Arizona lawmakers rejected a plan to commission a statue of state icon Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, and display it in the U.S. Capitol building, with conservatives saying that the idea of honoring O’Connor, a moderate Republican, was offensive.
“We cannot allow the distinguished members of this body to have to suffer walking by such an undistinguished jurist when they enter here in the morning,” Rep. Alexander Kolodin, a Republican representing Scottsdale, said.
[Akshully] The statue would not have been placed at the Arizona Capitol, but instead inside Statuary Hall in the nation’s Capitol in Washington, D.C.
There’s just no pleasing misogynists. Go figure.
Good News
The19thNews 0 to 50: Progressive organization Latino Victory plans to build a bench of Afro Latinas in politics:
...Latino Victory has committed to recruiting [and backing] 50 Afro Latinas to its candidate training program by June 2025.
Latino Victory, an influential progressive group that recruits and backs Latinx candidates, says the goal is the culmination of months of work studying the lack of Afro Latina representation across all levels of government.
“Representation matters, and it’s not just about having people who look like you in positions of power, but really, what it means in terms of the experiences that they bring to the table and that they can draw on for policies that support our community,” said Katharine Pichardo, the executive director of the Latino Victory Project, who worked on its Afro Latinas Lead project...
From NativeNewsOnline, a brief biographical article on Wilma Mankiller "Every principal chief of the Cherokee nation since Mankiller is measured against her greatness."